A question for Magnus and other martial artists

Hey guys,
So basically im gonna join wing chun in the summer as i have many exams and things to prepare for now.
so first off, i want to ask you what are your views/what do you think of WC?
I'm very determined and im ready to put a huge amount of time into martial arts training until i become very self efficient and completely confident of my skills. I've studied bruce lee's skills and training/fighting methods and im willing to stick to a more free form of fighting; i will mainly learn WC for defence and quick successive attacks but also incorporate the concept of JKD aswell, as i have TKD experience and am able to use that to my advantage.
I've read many of his books (tao of the JKD, Bruce lee's fighting methods 1-4) and other books that have philosophies and aids that can help me.
What im asking is: do you know anything that can physically or mentally prepare me for my martial arts training in general and WC training specifically before i enter the school? things that can benefit me like how to strengthen fists, power of kicks and punches, speed, balance, etc.

I know that im asking a lot of you and that it will take a lot of work to answer but im really determined to work hard and collect all the possible information before i start. im gonna tell you some things about my self that can relate to MA.

i workout 3 times a week (chest/tri , back/bi , shoulders/legs), i do some cardio like running and jump rope and stretch on a daily basis (im really flexible). i just need some help on what i can do to benefit myself in the MA area, i dont care about muscle mass or anything i just want to be a powerful weapon.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully someone will get back

Thanks in advance,
Faris

First of all, sorry to be a stickler, but the expression is self-sufficient, not self efficient.

But to the point, I thing wing chun is fantastic.  I trained in it for a fairly brief time, but the time I did was beneficial, not to mention very cool and fun.

-Strengthening your will is the primary goal in that kind of training.  Fighting through physical limits is very important, and the discipline you develop in it is amazing.  Do sprints and other high intensity activities, and try and push yourself further every time.  This is HARD, and your body will scream at you to stop, but you keep going anyway.

-Strengthening your fists is relatively straight-forward.  If you have a bag, use it.  If you have a harder bag, work up to using that.  Eventually, you're going to want the hardest bag you can hit without damaging your wrists, which will also develop in terms of strength and stability.  Doing push-ups on the fist will help that immensely. 

-Speed and balance will come with practice and technique.  Learning to transfer power from your legs to your punches is crucial, and you can do that via the hips.  Practice practice practice, your kicks will get better and better.

haha i really feel stupid i was pretty sure i wrote self-sufficient o.O

Anyway thank you all, i just got some more questions:

Anything that has to do with technique im gonna postpone till i start learning, unless there are some really basic exercises that i can do which will help me when i start.. so do any of you know any good exercises i can do without having any experience?

i cant use my punching bag right now, but do u recommend hanging a bag willed with sand on the wall and practice some punches there to strengthen fists? also should i use wrist weights to increase power of hits?

@Kenobi15, u said that i must focus on technique most importantly, but since i havent started learning can u give me some simple techniques and exercises i can practice until i join the school?

Thank you all

Good but not the best. I assume you like it because of bruce lee? Yeah it wont make you bruce lee if that's where your going.

Its not a bad martial art. But i would say if you find a gym like Kick boxing, boxing, Muay thai, kyokushin karate you may benefit more. Then again its more to do with the gym, coach and teaching rather than the actual art, as well as the person themselves learning it.

I have heard alot of friends of mine saying "wing chun is the best martial arts, bruce lee did it and he was the best fighter" which is complete crap.

It is good, but i also heard that there are alot of bad dojos for wing chun, alot of mc dojos so be wary of that.

But it seems your taking it because of bruce lee. Dont expect something magical from doing Winch Chun. I say this "any art can beat another art". A boxer can beat a judoka, a judoka can beat a boxer. A wing chun fighter can beat a muay thaist, while a muay thaist can beat a wing chun fighter.

All that matters is you have good correct motivation and also you train hard.

To prepare, i dont know what your wing chun club is like and im not very familiar with wing chun clubs. But myabe there is a split between those who focus more on Katas/Formations while the other side that focuses more on actual Fighting, im not sure.

But the number one thing you have to be is FIT!

thing is you say you want to be powerful fighter or something right? Since you already have taekwondo on your back, i think it would make far more sence to do something like Wrestling or Judo, Brazillain jujuitsu so your more rounded rather than just striking.

If you want to prepare, just do cardio. Doing anything that is whinchun related may get you doing it wrong. You can look up basic stuff like kata movements or basic chain punching, but you really need to learn it from a proper coach and proper dojo.

What i think of wing chun? Well ive never tried it so i cant say anything but i do think its over rated, well from where i live i think its over rated since everyone assumes it is the best martial art out there and everyone needs to do it because bruce lee did it. Bruce lee wasnt a bad fighter, wasnt the best though.

Mentally prepare you? Be determined to work hard and take all you can. Be motivated, be strong, work hard... Keep going without stopping. Power of kicks and punches etc... comes with practice, and also not just any practice but practice of the correct technique. If you are going to practice early, like i said practice the basics of basics because practicing rubbish will make you rubbish.

Also another thing that just came to my mind. you need to be very explosive, so doing heavy lifts as well as things like sprinting and stuff will help.

I dont know whether you want to be more of a powerful weapon or if you want to be more of a Wing chun artists or JKDist. If you want to be more of a powerful weapon keep what you learned in taekwondo, and do something like Judo/Wrestling/Chinese Wrestling/BJJ/Sambo. It will benefit you more I think.

But if you want to really go for JKD and Wing Chun then go for it man, you seem to have alot of motivation. Just make sure you dont go into some bullshit Mc dojo while your looking for one.

If you find a dojo link it here and go for a free trial and see what its like. See what its like for a few lessons.

IF you are looking for alot of sparring and they seem, to do alot of katas, ask the teacher about this, if he seems very uninterested then chances are you wont get much sparring if any (its what happened at my tangsoodo place, i wanted sparring, i didnt get any, so i had to leave as i wasn't getting what i wanted).

Vice versa to what i just said aswell.

Doing MMA could also help, as it has both striking, grapling, throwing etc.. So that could definately help if you want to become a powerful weapon. Oh and do rugby while you can, i wish i did rugby when i was young, and i tried to join now but the place was too far away. And now i regret it even more. Im thinking of joinig school rugby maybe next year. When the season starts again :p.

Anyways have fun.

umm ur doing wing chun i did a different style of kung fu called dragon and tiger so I cant really tell you anything, when you start just keep doing repetitions untill you get it right

you can check this link for some workouts:

http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2007/07/grapplingmma-circuit-training-videos/

Good.

Well im not experienced but i do love martial arts. I did TSD for about 6 months but i left that as not enough sparring, all katas and i ended up hating katas in the end.

I just started Judo but i love it so much already. The first trial lesson i went and i loved it! I went for a second lesson to see if the first lesson was a fluke... but it wasnt and i loved it again! So fun!

I guess your friends teaching you is ok but what you learn from your friends wont work unless you actually use it often in sparring. Like i said before if you want to become a better powerful weapon then its better to be more rounded and do something like judo/bjj/wrestling but its up to you. But learning a few moves from your friends wont mean that you can use it next time you spar. Its a very slim chance.

Just like in wing chun, would you expect yourself to be able to do the wing chun moves if your friends do it a little bit in mma (since MMA isnt focused in grapling and throwing like Judo is, it has focuses on many parts).

But like i said its up to you Do what you WANT to do, rather than do what you think is best. Like i thought that grappling and judo was rubbish. I thought i would hate it. I tried it for a lesson and now i love it!

About more power... its all about technique. I think i mentioned it in my previous post but if your technique is rubbish so is your power. So strengthening will help not increase the power much but maybe let you punch harder without hurting yourself. Although im not so sure about that.

And im not so sure about grip strength, but i dont think it will help much. In a punch your not really gripping, it will help you tighten your fists before you land a punch. but someone else more experienced with this should answer this.


Here again you say you want an edge over your opponent when in close range fighting. Well since you already have kicks and flexibility for long range, you can kick short range too on the shins or knee them, you usually learn this in traditional taekwondo but maybe your doing WTF?

But for short range judo also works, as well as BJJ and Sambo and Wrestling as those are all short range.

Yeah i like to use w/e i like from different arts because i know that my opponent wont fight on my terms. Cause honestly kicks without ANY close range/hand-to-hand combat is inadequate in many situations.
Anyway do you know any method that i can train to prepare myself for wing chun? Cause i wont be able to join until summer, so anything that can help me until then would be really appreciated <3
Thanks ^_^